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Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 112 and UFC 171
Mar 19, 2014 - 4:50:26 PM
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 112 and UFC 171
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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

Bellator 112 and UFC 171 both took place last weekend; let's get to it:

Bellator 112

GOOD: Adam McDonough vs. Jesse Juarez

This fight was just OK. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything special either. Both guys did what they could to win, with McDonough taking the decision. It was solid, but nothing noteworthy.

GOOD: Sam Oropeza stops Cristiano Souza

Oropeza caught Souza with a big right hook to finish the fight in the first round. Up until that point they seemed to be battling back and forth well. Oropeza just caught him right on the button and shut the lights out. It was just a beautiful shot.

GOOD: Andrey Koreshkov stops Nah-Shon Burrell

This was even shorter. Koreshkov caught Burrell with a body shot that also clipped his chin, which dropped him. Not much else to add there, after Burrell dropped Koreshkov stormed in and finished it with some heavy shots. It probably took me longer to write this than the fight lasted. Yeah, I'm a slow typer.

GREAT: Pat Curran submits Daniel Straus

This was an excellent fight. These guys battled back and forth. Curran had the advantage, then Straus did. They fought on the feet, they fought on the mat, they taunted each other, this was a total war. Curran got the submission in the final seconds of the fifth round. I think there was like fifteen seconds left. I don't know what would have happened if Curran hadn't gotten the submission, it's always so hard to read judges and how they score things. If you haven't seen this fight you should try to watch it as soon as you can. This won't be Fight of the Year or anything, but it's definitely going to be in the Top Ten.


UFC 171

GOOD/BAD: Sean Spencer vs. Alex Garcia

There were some really good moments in this fight, but also some really bad ones. They went back and forth a lot. Garcia won the decision, as he clearly won two of the rounds.

GOOD: Dennis Bermudez stops Jimy Hettes

Bermudez dominated this fight before getting the third round knockout. A good win for Bermudez.

GOOD: Jessica Andrade vs. Raquel Pennington

This was really close. Andrade picked up the split decision here, and the second round was the decisive one. Pennington was countering well, but Andrade was being very aggressive and landing the heavier shots. This was a hard one to judge.

GOOD: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Rick Story

Another entertaining fight. Gastleum dominated the first round, then nearly lost in the second. The third round was just a total toss-up. Gastelum won by split decision, which I think was a pretty good call.

GOOD: Ovince St. Preux submits Nikita Krylov

St. Preux did what he was supposed to, beat the outmatched opponent. He finished things early.

UGLY/GOOD: Hector Lombard vs. Jake Shields

The GOOD comes from the beginning few minutes. Lombard nearly had Shields finished, but he just couldn't put him away. After that, the UGLY kicked in as the fight devolved into a smelly turd. Lombard gassed badly, and Shields had nothing to offer. Like milk left out in the hot sun, this got bad in a hurry.

BAD: Diego Sanchez vs. Myles Jury

There wasn't much to this fight. Jury just laid out, looking for the counter. He got the decision, but the win doesn't do a whole lot for him.

GOOD/BAD: Tyron Woodley beats Carlos Condit by injury stoppage

Condit suffered a knee injury from defending a takedown in the second round. Woodley had won the first round, though Condit was very active from his back. It looked like Condit was starting to turn it on, too, when the injury happened. Woodley says that it was a good win because he was "dominating" Condit. I don't know what he's talking about because he wasn't dominating anything.

Anytime an injury stops a fight it takes the wind out of the sails. It sucks, to be blunt, especially in fights like this. This is like the second fight between Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva. I would say that Weidman had done more to win his fight than Woodley had, at the point of the injury stoppage, though. I don't want to take too much away from Woodley, though, he fought very well. It's very possible that Woodley would have won the fight regardless, but we'll never know. I don't think this is enough for Woodley to get the next title shot in the welterweight division, but he's close.

GREAT: Johnny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler

This fight was amazing. I would put it just above the Pat Curran-Daniel Straus rematch from Bellator 112, but it's close. Hendricks won the first two rounds, Lawler won the next two. It came down to the fifth round, and Hendricks was just slightly better. And I mean just slightly. Hendricks got a takedown towards the end of the fight, and that sealed the deal. Now, I could easily see someone giving Lawler one of the first two rounds, and that speaks to how close it was. I wouldn't really agree with that, but it's possible.

I think the lack of contenders, and the closeness of this fight, could lead to an immediate rematch. It's not a robbery if it doesn't work out that way, but I think that's the way it'll probably work out. Nick Diaz has thrown his name into the mix, but I have major doubts that the UFC will put him straight into a title fight. It would be an interesting fight, though.

Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank


DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC Fight Night 82
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 148 and UFC on FOX 18
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from WSOF 27, plus thoughts on Frankie Edgar and eyepokes

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